I never knew how this was done. I knew there were bogs, but never saw one. We grow a lot of cranberries here is Washington state too. Are cranberries native to America? Turkeys are. I believe Ben Franklin famously wanted to make the turkey our national bird, but the bald eagle won.

I love learning how the things that end up in my house, whether groceries or other stuff, is grown or made. Thanksgiving is nearly here. Buy extra cranberries and put them in the freezer.

CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH

2 cups fresh cranberries1 large orange¾ cup sugar, or to tastePeel orange, save peel. Remove seeds and as much of the white pith as you can. Put cranberries, orange and peelthrough food processor or coarse meat grinder,mix well and refrigerate.

Like this:

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Cranberries are native to America, but only a couple species of them (luckily, the bigger ones) are native only to America: Vaccinium macrocarpon (Large, or American Cranberry) and Vaccinium erythocarpon (Southern Mountain Cranberry). Other species are found throughout the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Buy extra cranberries and put them in the freezer, indeed! Cranberries have clinically proven health benefits, including protecting against urinary-tract infections. Scientists once thought that they contained an antibiotic chemical that killed bacteria. But then they discovered that what they contained was a chemical that stayed in tact and ended up in a person’s urine. Rather than killing the bacteria, the chemical makes the urinary tract slippery, preventing bacteria from attaching themselves. Cranberries also contain roughage and lots of anti-oxidants.

I didn’t bother to look up cranberries. I didn’t realize that they are in the same family as huckleberries and Lingonberries. We have a native evergreen huckleberry and a deciduous red huckleberry that are native here. I grew up with Idaho mountain huckleberries,(sorry, Subsidy) far superior to Maine blueberries. I had an aunt from Milo.
They grow well in the mountains of Idaho and Montana. Oddly enough, I found a native huckleberry growing on the California coast at the Point Reyes National Seashore (before it was a park). Little tiny bushes with little tiny huckleberries with excellent flavor, but too small to be much use. I have a sharp eye for huckleberries. Sourdough pancakes with huckleberries are food for the Gods.

I also hadn’t realized that cranberries grow in fields and really become bogs just to pick the crop more easily. We have lots of blueberries here, bland when raw, but make good pies.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but have you ever done a side-by-side comparison? Even if you did, and you did it in Idaho, you probably weren’t comparing the local berry with a freshly picked Maine blueberry. I’ll meet you half way and say that I have no reason to doubt that Idaho huckleberries are as good as Maine ones (or Maine huckleberries)!